Electric Bus Startup Arrival Jumps on the SPAC IPO Bandwagon

There's been a frenzy for EV (electric vehicle) stocks this year, and many EV companies have gone public. Some of them have listed through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company), including electric bus startup Arrival. When is Arrival's SPAC IPO date and how can you invest in the company? 

This year, SPACs have raised over $54 billion from U.S. markets, according to Refinitiv. EV stocks Nikola, Fisker, and Lordstown have already gone for an IPO through the SPAC route, and Canoo and battery startup QuantumScape have had reverse mergers and are expected to IPO soon. Now, U.K.-based EV company Arrival is also going public through a SPAC.

Arrival, founded in 2015, aims to make cities cleaner and efficient. It produces the Arrival Bus, the Arrival Van, and digital products. The Arrival Bus has a modular design that can be tailored according to the city's needs. 

Rivian, which is backed by Amazon, competes with Arrival. Earlier this month, Rivian opened pre-orders for two of its models. However, since Rivian is a privately held company, you can’t invest in it.

Arrival is going public through a reverse merger with blank-check company CIIG Merger Corporation. CIIG was set up by Peter Cuneo, former CEO of Remington and Marvel. Cuneo is joining Arrival’s board as a non-executive chairman.

The merger with CIIG values Arrival at around $5.4 billion, and the company hopes to raise about $660 million in the transaction. CIIG and Arrival expect their merger to complete in the first half of 2021, and then to hold an IPO. Arrival, currently among the top 10 most valuable private companies in the U.K., will list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ARVL” 

You can invest in the Arrival IPO through a brokerage account. You'll need to transfer funds to the account and then place the order for the Arrival IPO.

Apart from the EV companies, many others have opted for SPACs this year. These include:

• Pershing Square Tontine. Led by legendary Bill Ackman, Pershing Square Tontine was this year's biggest SPAC and raised $4 billion. It attempted a reverse merger with Airbnb but that didn't work out, like some others.
• Virgin Galactic.
• DraftKings.